Transmission Media

Classes of transmission media

7.2
Electromagnetic Spectrum for
Transmission Media
Guided Transmission Media
Transmission capacity depends on the
distance and on whether the medium is
point-to-point or multipoint
Examples
 twisted pair wires
 coaxial cables
 optical fiber
Twisted Pair Wires
Consists of two insulated copper wires
arranged in a regular spiral pattern to
minimize the electromagnetic interference
between adjacent pairs
Often used at customer facilities and also
over distances to carry voice as well as
data communications
Low frequency transmission medium
Types of Twisted Pair
STP (shielded twisted pair)
 the pair is wrapped with metallic foil or braid
to insulate the pair from electromagnetic
interference
UTP (unshielded twisted pair)
 each wire is insulated with plastic wrap, but
the pair is encased in an outer covering
Ratings of Twisted Pair
Category 3 UTP
 data rates of up to 16mbps are achievable
Category 5 UTP
 data rates of up to 100mbps are achievable
 more tightly twisted than Category 3 cables
 more expensive, but better performance
STP
 More expensive, harder to work with
Twisted Pair Advantages
Inexpensive and readily available
Flexible and light weight
Easy to work with and install
Twisted Pair Disadvantages
Susceptibility to interference and noise
Attenuation problem
 For analog, repeaters needed every 5-6km
 For digital, repeaters needed every 2-3km
Relatively low bandwidth (3000Hz)
Coaxial Cable (or Coax)
Used for cable television, LANs, telephony
Has an inner conductor surrounded by a
braided mesh
Both conductors share a common center
axial, hence the term “co-axial”
Coax Layers
outer jacket
(polyethylene)
shield
(braided wire)

insulating material

copper or aluminum
conductor
Coax Advantages
Higher bandwidth
 400 to 600Mhz
 up to 10,800 voice conversations
Can be tapped easily
Much less susceptible to interference than
twisted pair
Coax Disadvantages
High attenuation rate makes it expensive
over long distance
Bulky
Fiber Optic Cable
Relatively good transmission medium
used by telephone companies in place of
long-distance trunk lines
Also used by private companies in
implementing local data communications
networks
Require a light source with injection laser
diode (ILD) or light-emitting diodes (LED)
Fiber Optic Layers
consists of three concentric sections

plastic jacket glass or plastic

fiber core
cladding
Fiber Optic Advantages
greater capacity (bandwidth of up to 2
Gbps)
smaller size and lighter weight
lower attenuation
immunity to environmental interference
highly secure due to tap difficulty and
lack of signal radiation
Fiber Optic Disadvantages
expensive over short distance
requires highly skilled installers
adding additional nodes is difficult
Wireless (Unguided Media)
Transmission
transmission and reception are achieved
by means of an antenna
directional
 transmitting antenna puts out focused beam
 transmitter and receiver must be aligned
omnidirectional
 signal spreads out in all directions
 can be received by many antennas
Wireless Examples
terrestrial microwave
satellite microwave
broadcast radio
infrared
Terrestrial Microwave
used for long-distance telephone service
uses radio frequency spectrum, from 2 to 40
Ghz
parabolic dish transmitter, mounted high
used by common carriers as well as private
networks
requires unobstructed line of sight between
source and receiver
curvature of the earth requires stations
(repeaters) ~30 miles apart
Terrestrial Microwave
Applications

Television distribution
Long-distance telephone transmission
Private business networks
Microwave Transmission
Disadvantages
line of sight requirement
expensive towers and repeaters
subject to interference such as passing
airplanes and rain
Satellite
Microwave Transmission
a microwave relay station in space
can relay signals over long distances
geostationary satellites
 remain above the equator at a height of
22,300 miles (geosynchronous orbit)
 travel around the earth in exactly the time
the earth takes to rotate
Satellite Transmission Links
earth stations communicate by sending
signals to the satellite on an uplink
the satellite then repeats those signals on
a downlink
the broadcast nature of the downlink
makes it attractive for services such as
the distribution of television programming
 Satellite Transmission Process
satellite
transponder

dish dish
22,300 miles

uplink station downlink station

Satellite Transmission
Applications
television distribution
 a network provides programming from a
central location
 direct broadcast satellite (DBS)
long-distance telephone transmission
 high-usage international trunks
private business networks
Radio
radio is omnidirectional and microwave is
directional
Radio is a general term often used to
encompass frequencies in the range 3
kHz to 300 GHz.
Mobile telephony occupies several
frequency bands just under 1 GHz.
Infrared
Uses transmitters/receivers (transceivers)
that modulate noncoherent infrared light.
Transceivers must be within line of sight
of each other (directly or via reflection ).
Unlike microwaves, infrared does not
penetrate walls.